قطعت لسانكم نفثةٌ من أرقمِ

قطعت لسانكم نفثةٌ من أرقمِ

أعلمت من تنعاه أم لم تعلم

أعلمت من تنعاه أم لم تعلم

May a spotted serpent's venomous spittle sever your tongue!

A breath from Arqam has silenced your tongues

Did you know whose death you announced, or did you not know?

Do you know who you are mourning or are you unaware?

كيف استطعت تدير في فمك اسمه

كيف استطعت تدير في فمك اسمه

ولقد يضيق به فمُ المتكلّم

ولقد يضيق به فمُ المتكلّم

How could you turn his name about in your mouth,

How could you bear to turn his name around in your mouth

when a speaker's mouth is surely too narrow to contain it?

When even the eloquent's mouth is too narrow for it

يا ناعياً للخلق روح حياتهم

يا ناعياً للخلق روح حياتهم

املك لساناً لا أبا لك واكظم

املك لساناً لا أبا لك واكظم

O you who announce to creation the death of their life's soul,

O you who lament the spirit of life for all creation

Hold your tongue—may you have no father—and hold back!

Hold your tongue, you have no father, so choke it down

رفِّه على موتى نبلت قلوبهم

رفِّه على موتى نبلت قلوبهم

فتنبَّهوا بسهام نعيٍ مؤلم

فتنبَّهوا بسهام نعيٍ مؤلم

Be gentle with the dead whose hearts were pierced by arrows,

Curb it from lamenting the noble whose hearts have withered

and were thus awakened by the arrows of a painful death announcement.

So they are roused by the pain of a grievous lament

فجميعهم تحت الثرى في ملحدٍ

فجميعهم تحت الثرى في ملحدٍ

وجميعهم فوق الثرى في مأتم

وجميعهم فوق الثرى في مأتم

For all of them are beneath the soil in a grave,

They are all together in the same grave in a cemetery

and all of them are above the soil in a mourning gathering.

And together above the grave in mourning

دعهم فقد غصُّوا بجرعة ثكلهم

دعهم فقد غصُّوا بجرعة ثكلهم

وإلى الأئمَّة في نعائك يمّم

وإلى الأئمَّة في نعائك يمّم

Leave them, for they have choked on a draught of their bereavement;

Leave them be, for they have been satiated by the bitterness of their loss

and turn toward the Imams with your death announcement.

And turn your lamentation towards the Imams

وقل السلامُ عليكم دُرِس التقى

وقل السلامُ عليكم دُرِس التقى

وعفتْ معالمه عفوَّ الأرسم

وعفتْ معالمه عفوَّ الأرسم

And say: Peace be upon you; piety has been effaced,

And say peace be upon you, exemplars of piety

and its landmarks have faded as traces fade.

Whose features virtue's pardon has effaced

والدين هدَّ اليوم دين محمدٍ

والدين هدَّ اليوم دين محمدٍ

ووهت دعائمه بفقد المحكم

ووهت دعائمه بفقد المحكم

By the faith, Muhammad's faith has been shattered today,

Today religion is the religion of Muhammad

and its pillars have weakened with the loss of their fortifier.

Its pillars weakened by the loss of the Decisive

كانَ الدليل أقمتموه على الهُدى

كانَ الدليل أقمتموه على الهُدى

علماً يدلُّ على الطريق الأقوم

علماً يدلُّ على الطريق الأقوم

He was the guide you set up upon the way of guidance,

You had appointed him as evidence of guidance

a landmark pointing to the straightest path.

A sign pointing to the rightest path

والآن لمَّا طوَّحته يدُ الردى

والآن لمَّا طوَّحته يدُ الردى

غدت الأنام بمجملٍ مستبهم

غدت الأنام بمجملٍ مستبهم

And now that the hand of death has flung him away,

But now that the hand of evil has demolished him

humanity is left with what is unresolved and obscure.

People are left in wholesale confusion

حميت عليهم للرشاد مطالعٌ

حميت عليهم للرشاد مطالعٌ

لا تستبين اليوم للمتوسّم

لا تستبين اليوم للمتوسّم

The horizons of right guidance have been barred to them;

I protected guidance for them like the rising of stars

today no discerning observer can make them out.

That today cannot be clearly made out by the hopeful

غشيتهم سوداءُ أطبق ليلها

غشيتهم سوداءُ أطبق ليلها

للحشر تلحفهم بليلٍ مظلم

للحشر تلحفهم بليلٍ مظلم

A black calamity has enveloped them, its night closing in;

A pitch black darkness has descended on them

until the Resurrection it swathes them in a dark night.

Enshrouding them for the Gathering in a gloomy night

يا خيرَ آباءٍ فقدنا برَّهم

يا خيرَ آباءٍ فقدنا برَّهم

فجعت يتاماكم بأرفق قيّم

فجعت يتاماكم بأرفق قيّم

O best of fathers whose loving care we have lost,

O best of fathers, we have lost their blessedness

your orphans have been bereaved of the gentlest guardian.

Your orphans mourn the loss of the gentlest caregiver

فطموا فمن لهم بدرَّة فيئكم

فطموا فمن لهم بدرَّة فيئكم

أن يرضعوها بعد أكرم منعم

أن يرضعوها بعد أكرم منعم

They have been weaned: who will give them your shade's flowing milk,

Wean their mouths, for who else but you

that they may suckle it after the most generous benefactor is gone?

Can nurture them after the Most Generous Sustainer?

حسِّن مقالك ما الأئمَّة أهملوا

حسِّن مقالك ما الأئمَّة أهملوا

أبناءكم فيسوء ظنُّ المعدم

أبناءكم فيسوء ظنُّ المعدم

Mend your words: the Imams have not neglected

Speak well, for the Imams did not neglect

your children, that the destitute should think ill of them.

Your children, so the needy's assumption would be spoiled

بل كانَ شاقهم الإِمام المرتضى

بل كانَ شاقهم الإِمام المرتضى

ولذاك قيل له على الرحب أقدم

ولذاك قيل له على الرحب أقدم

Rather, Imam al-Murtada had stirred their longing,

Indeed, the Imam al-Murtada busied himself with their affairs

and so he was told: “Advance—you are welcome.”

And that is why he was called the First to Give

ورأوا محمد صالحاً من بعده

ورأوا محمد صالحاً من بعده

لبنيهمُ يبقى فقيلَ لهُ اسلم

لبنيهمُ يبقى فقيلَ لهُ اسلم

And they deemed Muhammad fit, after him,

And they saw Muhammad as righteous after him

to remain for their children; so he was told: “Live in safety.”

So he was named Submit (to God)

دمْ للصلاح وللهداية والتقى

دمْ للصلاح وللهداية والتقى

ولعيلة العافي وحمل المغرم

ولعيلة العافي وحمل المغرم

Live on for righteousness, for guidance and piety,

Proceed with righteousness, guidance, piety and virtue

and to ease the supplicant's poverty and shoulder the burden of debt.

And for the virtuous family and bearer of burdens

قسماً بهديكَ بل بنسكك بل بمن

قسماً بهديكَ بل بنسكك بل بمن

بالفضل خصَّك وهو جهدُ المقسم

بالفضل خصَّك وهو جهدُ المقسم

I swear by your conduct—nay, by your devotion—nay, by Him who

I swear by your guidance, your devotion, and by Him

singled you out with excellence—this is the swearer's utmost oath:

Who preferred you with merit, which fully binds me

ما فوقَ ظهر الأرض فوقك مقتفٍ

ما فوقَ ظهر الأرض فوقك مقتفٍ

أثرَ الأئمَّة في تقًى وتكرّم

أثرَ الأئمَّة في تقًى وتكرّم

Upon the earth's back, none surpasses you in following

None above the earth's face emulates you

the Imams' footsteps in piety and generosity.

In following the Imams in piety and nobility

أنتَ الذي تنميك من سلف العُلى

أنتَ الذي تنميك من سلف العُلى

زهرُ الوجوه لها المكارم تنتمي

زهرُ الوجوه لها المكارم تنتمي

You are descended from the forebears of glory,

You are the one the bloom of the high ancestry raises

radiant-faced men to whom noble deeds trace their own descent.

The feats of glory belong to it and stem from it

ومعذَّبٍ بعُلاك قلت وقد سما

ومعذَّبٍ بعُلاك قلت وقد سما

لينالها فانحطَّ موطئ منسم

لينالها فانحطَّ موطئ منسم

And to one tormented by your eminence I said, when he had risen

And one debased by your loftiness, I said when he attained them:

to attain it, only to fall where a camel's hoof treads:

He has reached them, so his foothold has slipped

أتعبت نفسكَ ليس تعلو شأوه

أتعبت نفسكَ ليس تعلو شأوه

ولو ارتقيتَ إلى السماء بسلَّم

ولو ارتقيتَ إلى السماء بسلَّم

You have wearied yourself; you cannot surpass his stature,

You exhausted yourself though your repute cannot rise higher

even if you climbed to the sky upon a ladder.

Even if you climbed to the heavens with a ladder

فاسلم على الأيام ربعك آهلٌ

فاسلم على الأيام ربعك آهلٌ

وعُلاك سامٍ فوقَ هام المرزم

وعُلاك سامٍ فوقَ هام المرزم

So live in safety through the days, your abode well peopled,

So greet the days, for your brilliance has declined

and your eminence towers above the crowns of al-Mirzam.

And your loftiness has reached its zenith and climax